Frozen: Heart's Reflections
by Sigrid the Sky-Witch
Summary: Six months after the events of the film, Elsa has taken up her duties as Queen of Arendelle. Finding the balance of her royal responsibilities and her own anxieties a more more daunting task than she might have realized. Things don't get any easier when she has to deal with a thief, a powerful mirror, and a vengeful troll. Rated T for mild voilence.
1. Prologue

Yay! it's time for the premiere of my newest fic! I hope everyone enjoys reading and for more information about this fanfic, please visit my profile.

Frozen is owned by Disney.

Also the music I used to inspire the song in this chapter is Sovngarde from the Skyrim OST, so feel free to listen to that if you wanna get a sense of what I wanted the music to sound like.

Frozen: Reflections

Prologue

The young woman suddenly opened her eyes, her senses flooding back to her after spending so long in meditation. She became aware of herself in the present moment; the sounds of the forest around her, the rustling of the leaves, the smell of the crisp, autumn air, the feeling the soft cloth of her white robes against her skin, and the pressure on her knees as they were pressed against the cold, stony earth all came flooding back to her. The last sensation to return was an all too familiar feeling of frustration.

Once again, she had failed to receive a vision.

The young woman grimaced and blew a strand of black hair out of her face in annoyance; she never understood why the gift of foresight didn't come as easily to her as it did her grandmother. Did the spirits see her as unworthy? Or was she simply not ready? On such a pivotal, life-changing day, she couldn't receive guidance when she needed it the most?

The girl let out soft, but perturbed sigh, for she knew that she was needed back at camp. She did what she could to push her disappointment out of her mind and quickly stood back up, brushing off the few torn leaves that were caught on her robes as she rose and recovered her effects from where they rested; a thin, wooden staff with a polished round knob at the top, and a small tool that resembled a spindle, though somewhat longer, bulkier, and more square-shaped near the top.

The girl gathered her tools and made sure to pull her hood over her head before making her way back to the nearby encampment. She only walked a short pace before she saw a tall, burly man come into view. She recognized his face once she saw it, and smiled warmly, but the man simply continued to stare, his stoic expression unchanging even as the young woman walked toward him. She walked up to the man and stopped, and the man remained where he stood, his face stern and stoic, showing no emotion as he simply looked at the young girl half his size.

"Bo," she said, keeping up her warm smile, even as her nerves were starting to get to her. "I'm ready."

The man bowed his head, dipping his face just slightly downward, but when he turned his gaze back on the girl, he wore a smile to match the warmth of her own. He then graciously stepped aside revealing to the girl the path that lay before her. Two long rows of glowing torches stood on either side of her, like a fence to herd her down the path she had to take. Behind them were men with drums, beginning to beat them in a steady rhythm as soon as the girl was in sight. At the end of the path was a lone, black tent, simple enough in appearance, but it was ultimately where her journey would end.

Beginning to feel butterflies in her stomach, the girl, took a deep breath and began to walk down the path, trying to remember the words she needed to sing. Though she tried to maintain a calm demeanor as she walked slowly down the path, in her mind she was starting to panic, the words having escaped her mind. The banging of the drums, were ringing in her head as she wracked her brain trying to remember. The sound of drums was soon joined by a low pitched, melodious humming chant being sung by all the men present. They had all begun to start the ritual song and she wasn't ready at all! She struggled to remember before her part in the song arrived. Seconds later, the men began to sing with booming, baritone voices. Their resonance was so strong she could feel the bass reverberating through her body. They sang in the Ancient Tongue, which she had still not fully picked up yet, which only served to make her feel more anxious. Her staff and spindle were starting to quiver in her hands and her heart was beating faster than the drums; she was mere seconds away from her time to sing! If she didn't remember soon the initiation would be ruined!

Then, in the midst of the turmoil in her head, a thought, no, more of an instinct, swept over her. The constant barrage of panic and fear beating on her skull were drained away as she cleared her mind and surrendered to the music. She let go of her feelings of trepidation and let herself find peace with the rhythm of the thundering drums and booming voices around her. She could suddenly feel herself adapting, becoming one with the flow of the music. Then at they very instant, the time came for her verse to be sung, and she found the words she had been looking for:

"_From the cold, mountain winds_

_To the sea's rising tide,_

_To the heart, of this land, I shall call._

_By my blood and my kin shall my oath soon decide_

_If I be hope and wisdom for all."_

The Initiate's voice was shaky at first, but as she continued to let the music flow through her and become guided by instinct, her song became clearer. By the next verse, she had found a sense of peace, and her light resonance harmonized almost perfectly with the booming voices of the men around her.

_To the soul of the earth_

_May my binding vow reach_

_May it cross, o'er the veil, to reach thee._

_Bless this heart within me_

_Through my voice, may you teach_

_Humble servant is what I shall be._

Her voice began to falter as she said her final line, and the feelings of dread and anxiety returned. She began to realize it was more than failure that made her fearful. It was the idea of _succeeding_ that frightened her more

And with that, the Initiate's part in the song was done, the drumming and chanting continued around her, but for her it was over. She now stood right in front of the tent, her singing and flow with the music having pulled her away from conscious thought for those brief few seconds that she hadn't noticed she had walked all the way there. She bent forward and pushed the flap aside, making her way in.

Inside was a small fire resting simply on the bare earth inside the tent, but surrounding the fire were sets of large stones with runes on them. They were placed in a circle around the fire and pressed into the soil, and, judging by their seamless fit in the ground most like filled in with dirt and packed together neatly. On the other side of the fire was a figure in black robes, similar to the white robes the Initiate was wearing, only they showed more age and wear on them, despite being in relatively good condition. The figure even wore a hood like the girl, and like the rest of the garment, it was black, covering her face so well that not even the light of the fire seemed to illuminate it. Still, for the Initiate there was no sense of mystery here, for she knew the figure well.

"Grandmother," she said plainly, trying to hide her worries. Immediately the figure pulled back their hood, revealing an aged woman with long flowing gray hair. Her skin showed the signs of age, but she had somewhat younger features of a woman perhaps ten or twenty years younger, and her eyes were an even lighter shade of blue than the girl's. As their eyes met, the old woman beamed, her eyes lighting up as the younger girl's presence and wore a comforting smile before she began to speak.

"My child," she said, her voice was somewhat deep, yet soothing. "Today, your initiation begins. Today, we ask the blessing of the spirits of this land for your journey into the fold of the Vala."

The Initiate simply nodded, her expression remained blank and she took a shuddering breath. Noticing this, the older woman spoke up again.

"Feeling nervous?" she asked, her former ceremonious tone replaced with a concerned, comforting one. At once, the Initiate tried to grin, only managing to grimace again, and nodded.

"A bit, yes…" she replied, her eyes meeting the ground, feeling guilty for her nervousness. She saw long bony fingers come into her field of view and watched as they gently tapped on the bottom of her chin, compelling her to lift her gaze, meeting the warm smile of her grandmother again, as the woman moved her hand to the girl's cheek.

"Everything will be alright," she assured her. "Even if you're not chosen, and I have no reason to believe you wouldn't be, you will always be a part of this family. I promise."

Her grandmother's words comforted the girl, but only somewhat. Honestly, not being chosen seemed like the easier choice, but she would never say such a thing to her grandmother, especially not on the day of her initiation. She managed a half-grin and tried to calm herself down.

"Hold your head high, dear," said her grandmother still as warm as before. "You don't want the Spirits to think you've gotten cold feel do you?"

The Initiate blinked in surprise for a moment; her grandmother said that so casually, like it was a joke, but it was just too convenient for it to be just that, and the grin that crept along one side of her face confirmed it. The girl was amazed that her grandmother was able to see through her so easily. Still, things had been this way since she had known her grandmother; the woman just had a way of seeing into people's hearts, even when you didn't want her to.

Nevertheless, the grandmother made no comment about the girl's reaction and simply continued on. "Do you remember this next part?"

The Initiate nodded and moved to a nearby corned of the tent, placing her staff and spindle in the corner before returning to her place across from her grandmother. The old woman nodded in approval held out her open hands. Not wanting to appear hesitant again, the Initiate quickly placed her hands in her grandmother's and felt her long fingers close around them gently. The girl could hear the men outside reduce their singing back to low hums. It was now time for her to take the next step. Her grandmother smiled in anticipation, and the girl took a deep breath and began to recite the Binding Oath:

"I hereby make my solemn vow as a humble initiate to take up the duties of the Vala," she recited, continuing to stare into her grandmother's eyes, hoping somehow that would keep her from messing up. "I will stand as a servant of the spirits and of my people. I shall be as a bridge between our worlds, and convey the wisdom of the Spirit World into our own."

As she spoke the words, she could feel a tingling sensation spreading throughout her body, like some otherworldly force was touching her, inspecting her to see if she was truthful and honest. Was this a spirit? If it was, would it be able to sense the doubts and anxiety within her? Nevertheless she continued.

"I shall be as the earth: steadfast and strong, the foundation of my people. I shall be as the sea: the embodiment of calm and serenity, but also fierce and powerful when times are dire. I shall be as the wind; my voice and my songs breathing life into the blessed power of the Vala, and using that power to protect my people. I shall be as the flame; my passion for kin and kind burning within my heart."

Remembering the next part of the ritual she removed her hands from her grandmother's and retrieved her staff and spindle from their place in the corner. She placed one tool in each hand and returned to the fire holding her staff and spindle together before returning to her oath.

"With this Vow I bind myself to the spirits, and to my people. If I be worthy, I shall be known as one of the Vala. So let it be."

With her final words she slowly moved the spindle away from the top of the staff, as she did, a faint hint of magic glowed dimly from the spindle. As the spindle moved further away from the staff, a small thread appeared in between them; a thread that looked like it was made of blue light that seemed to originate from the staff and entwine itself around the spindle. The further she pulled the spindle away from the staff, the longer the thread grew. The girl had performed this kind of magic before so this wasn't new to her, but the next part of the ritual was to place the magic-entwined spindle on the runes surrounding the fire, transferring the magic from the spindle to the rune, which was something she had not done until now.

Beginning to tremble slightly, the Initiate slowly moved the spindle downwards to the nearest rune at her feet, careful not to move too fast and risk breaking the thread, thus ruining the ritual. She bent forward, being as slow and careful as she could, until she managed to tap the tip spindle on the rune. The thread suddenly disappeared and the magic glow on her spindle dimmed and died. However, the rune remained dark. The girl started to panic a little, thinking she had made a mistake of that she had been found unworthy, but after a few seconds she saw the rune begin to glow. It was dim at first, but then began to glow brightly. She had managed to perform the ritual properly at least. She smirked in satisfaction for a minute, but then realized there was one last step in her initiation.

And it was going to involve plenty of "stepping."

With another sigh, she lifted herself back up and returned her tools to their place in the corner, and went to face her grandmother again. The old woman simply smiled and held her arms out to her sides. The initiate reluctantly did the same, knowing that this was the hardest part of the ritual: the circle dance.

This was easily the most complicated part of the ritual, mainly because it involved dancing along the runes while spinning around and chanting. That would be hard enough, but she had to do it with her eyes closed as well! She had been practicing this for weeks, making fake runes in the dirt and dancing on them while her eyes were shut. More than once she fell over and almost always felt dizzy afterward, and she would at best have danced all _around_ the runes, looking more like a the footprints of rambunctious children playing in a circle than the proper steps in an important ritual. If there was any part of this to truly worry about, it was the dancing.

Her grandmother lifted her head up and closed her eyes, and spun around to face the opposite direction. The initiate gulped and reluctantly followed suit, beginning to shake even more for fear of messing up. Her grandmother began to chant, her voice raising and lowering in pitch. It was a wordless chant, but even so it carried a lot of emotion and power behind it. The initiate began to chant similarly and heard the men outside return to their chanting as well, but this time faster and louder than before.

This was the initiate's cue to begin the dance. She struggled to move her feel towards where the thought the runes were as she danced and spun and chanted all at once, trying to keep her head held high and her eyes closed as she kept trying to guess at where the runes were. The only indication that she had made the right step was when the saw a faint white glow shine through the darkness in her eyes, meaning the runes had been activated by her touch. To make things even more difficult, she had to move in rhythm with the music, and the faster pace meant she couldn't take her time. She tried to do what she did earlier and let the flow carry her around, but with all the steps she had to take it only helped marginally. Soon she started feeling nauseous and nearly slipped on one of the runes, but managed to regain her balance just in time. Eventually, the Initiate knew the song was nearing its close and heard the chant change once more as the men outside held on one long, powerful note. This meant it was time to stop and face forward, but she still wasn't allowed to open her eyes yet. She lifted her arms high up in the air, her head still facing upwards and her eyes still closed as the long note was still held, trying to stand still despite her lightheadedness, then, as the long note was finally broken, the men ended the song with one final loud "Hrah!"

Finally, the Initiate dropped her arms down to her sides. The drums had stopped and the chanting had ceased. The only sounds left were the crackling of the fire, the various sounds of nature outside the camp, and the initiate's own heavy breathing. At long last, the ritual was finished.

Cautiously the Initiate opened her eyes and saw her grandmother standing on the other side of the fire, smiling.

"Well done," she said, her eyes looking glossed over as though she were about to cry. "You have completed your initiation trials."

The Initiate looked down and the runes and was amazed to see all of them were lit? Had she really managed to step on them all correctly, or were some of them lit up by her grandmother as she danced atop them? It was impossible to tell either way. Maybe that was part of the ritual as well.

"Now, I must commune with the spirits of this land," the grandmother continued. "If they accept your oath, then you will at last become one of the Vala."

And now it was the moment of truth: would the Initiate become one of the Vala? Or would she be deemed unworthy? The initiate and her grandmother both reached for a stool in the tent and sat top them still facing each other.

"Now, I will soon go into a state of trance," her grandmother explained, taking a small cup of dirt and pouring some it over the fire, dousing the flames somewhat to make it smaller. "Once I do, you will not be able to speak to me until it is finished. Eventually I will hold out my hands and you will need to take them and we will receive a vision together. If the spirits accept you, you will know it."

_"But what if they reject me?"_ the Initiate thought to herself. "_I guess I'd know then too…"_

The initiate watched as her grandmother closed her eyes and began to chant once again. The initiate's heart sank, like she was waiting for a verdict to be passed. Even now, after all she had done to get to this point she still had doubts and fears about joining the ranks of the Vala. She felt conflicted, both with the need to have a purpose, and the desire for her freedom. Even though her fate decided for her in mere moments, she still had no idea where her life was going to go from here. Is this really what she wanted?

Just then, her grandmother opened her eyes. The initiate thought she had finished her vision at first, but this wasn't right; it wasn't at all like what her grandmother had explained would happen.

"Grandma?" the initiate asked, but there was no response. Her grandmother's eyes suddenly widened and her mouth was agape, she began to shake and tremble and gasp in terror, like she was being choked to death.

"Grandma? Grandma!" cried the Initiate, grabbing the old woman by the shoulders and shaking her, trying desperately to rouse her from her trance, but it was no use, she was still in trance and wouldn't come out until the vision was done. The Initiate began to panic again; this was not how the ritual was supposed to go, something was very wrong here. "No-no-no…what do I do?" she muttered frantically. She had no way of rousing her grandmother. The only thing the initiate could do was to try and see what her grandmother was seeing. Even though it would probably completely ruin the initiation, her grandmother's wellbeing was more important.

"I'm sorry…" she said before grabbing hold of her grandmother's hands and clasping her own around them. The initiate then tried to relax and center herself, trying to open a spiritual connection to her grandmother. At first, the Initiate only saw blackness, but soon the images started to pour into her mind.

First, she saw a large snowflake before her eyes. It was beautiful, as thought it had been sculpted by an artist. Then suddenly it turned red and twisted around itself, like someone was trying to destroy or corrupt it. Then she saw what looked like a tall mirror, simple yet beautiful and elegant, like it was made with the finest glass, or carved out of ice. Then it shattered, the pieces flying every direction and vanishing into the void. Finally she saw two terrifying sickly yellow eyes before her, malice and anger radiating forth from them and seemed to be starting into her heart. Suddenly, the eyes rushed toward her with unimaginable speed as though she was about to be pounced upon by whatever dark creature they belonged to.

The Initiate heard herself scream and suddenly found herself back in the tent with the dying flame and her grandmother in front of her. The Initiate was breathing heavily and sweating. The eyes she had seen had all but been burned into her mind. She suddenly felt her grandmother's hands clasp around her own. The Initiate looked up to see her grandmother moving again. She was awake! Her eyes were no longer blank, but still help great terror behind them.

"You…you saw it, didn't you?" she asked, still panting heavily. The Initiate was stunned, but finally nodded her head.

"Then you know we have no time!" her grandmother exclaimed. "It's coming!"

The girl was still shaken but also slightly confused. "What's coming?" she asked.

Her grandmother immediately stood up and went to a corner of the tent to retrieve her tools. "That vision was not part of the ritual," she said as sifted through her effects. "It was a warning. Something terrible is approaching!"

The Initiate gasped, was it that thing she saw in the vision? Those eyes…what could they have belonged to?

"What do we do?" she asked her grandmother. The older woman stood up, her staff and spindle in hand.

"Tell everyone we will be moving the camp immediately. I will gather the other Vala and tell them of this news" She said, as she turned to look at the Initiate her look of panic turned to sadness. "I'm sorry my dear, but I'm afraid you will not become a Vala this day."

The Initiate didn't know whether to feel sad or relieved at this news, but it was quickly overpowered by a sense of urgency. "I understand."

"Good, now go!" her grandmother commanded as she began to leave out of the other tent flap. "We don't have much time!"

Immediately, the Initiate got up and ran out of the tent, not even bothering to put her hood back up as it fell. She saw Bo standing outside, at first he was smiling, but his mood changed when he saw the Initiate's fear.

"We need to leave now." The initiate gasped. "Something's about to…"

her words were interrupted by the sudden gust of wind that blew through the camp, causing her to cover her face as the powerful winds blasted through the camp. The wind then stopped as suddenly as it had appeared, followed by rolling fog that began to seep slowly into the area.

_"Is that fog from the swamps?" _thought the Initiate. "_Why is it all the way over here?"_

The fog seemed to bring with it an empty silence as the sounds of the forest seemed to completely stop. Even the rustling of the leaves seemed to cease. Bo motioned to the other men and they stood up from where they were sitting and immediately went to the weapons rack, grabbing swords and axes and spears and starting to position themselves in front of the oncoming fog. The silence crept in again for a moment, leaving everyone to stare into the fog, awaiting whatever evil was prepared to crawl out of it.

Just then, they got what they were waiting for.

There was a huge crashing sound that shook the earth and the Initiate stumbled. Using her staff to stay upright she pulled herself back up and saw something huge suddenly appeared from the fog. It didn't completely leave the fog though, so no one could get a good look at whatever it was, but it looked dark colored, dense and somewhat round in some places, while being more square-shaped in others. Suddenly it moved, sounding like two rocks being grinded against one another. Was this thing made of stone? As it moved the warriors all readied their weapons. The Initiate was prepared to use her magic as well, but Bo put his spear in front of her like a barricade, silently urging her to stay back, and moved to join the others as they began to converge on the creature. As they inched closer, it moved again, lifting its massive body up and back slightly, as if it were rearing back. The warriors stopped in their tracks, those with shields brought them up to their faces, preparing for whatever attack this thing was going to throw at them. The Initiate, now crippled with fear, could only watch. Without warning she saw a column of flame erupt out from the fog, coming from the top of the creature. It blazed over the heads of the warriors and flew above the Initiate, finding its mark on one of the tents behind them. The initiate could hear screams of panic and terror, coming from men and women, but she didn't dare to turn around and see the damage. Her eyes were fixed on the monster before her.

The warriors cried out with fury and charged the creature, Bo included. They didn't get far when the creature moved again, and the Initiate saw the monster's arm, which looked like a giant stone slab emerge from the fog and smash the ground in front of them. The warriors stopped in their tracks as the giant arm smashed into the earth, and when they recovered, rushed forward again, trying in vain to strike at the creature's arm. The monster then pulled its arm back slightly and then swept it across the ground, colliding with the group of warriors and swatting them aside. Some of them managed to bring their shields up to block the attack, but the creature's arm was too massive to prevent the lot of them from being flung out of the way, screaming as they disappeared into the fog.

"No!" Screamed the Initiate, horrified at the sight of people she had known for years suddenly being tossed aside like they were nothing.

The Initiate saw figures appear from behind her, young and old women in robes of white and black. Vala and fellow initiates alike had emerged to fend of this beast. Yet even as they charged forward, the Initiate found she could not move, her legs only buckled as she fell to her knees in terror at what she had just seen. Her sisters pressed forward, reading their own weapons against the monster and preparing their incantations. The Initiate then saw one of her sisters who had gone the furthest suddenly stop trying to cast her magic and began to struggle in place. What looked like vines, or roots, had burst out of the earth around her and wrapped themselves around her legs and arms, rendering her immobile. The creature then moved its arm again and the Initiate could see a large, stony hand open up and grab the girl, wrapping its fingers around her and lifted her up, plants and all, and pulled her into the fog.

The Initiate covered her face with her hands, letting her weapons fall to the ground, and cowered as she heard the sounds of magic meeting stone. She felt so helpless and cowardly, shaking in fear as her sisters were captured or killed. But she couldn't move. She could hear lightning striking rock, and heard little pieces of stone falling to the ground, followed by loud thumping, like the creature was walking, but instead of moving closer, like the Initiate was expecting, it sounded like the creature was getting farther away.

Then, there was only silence.

The Initiate opened her eyes and saw that the creature was no longer there, but the fog remained. She saw the sights of her sisters around her, some of them looking confused and afraid, and some were mourning the loss of one of their own. The initiate tried to pull herself together, but she was still trembling. The creature had easily dispatched many of her tribe's warriors and had taken one of her fellow initiates, and then simply left. Maybe her sisters had managed to damage it, forcing it to retreat, but she couldn't be sure now. Did the creature attack simply to take one of the Vala? If so, then for what purpose?

One thing the Initiate was sure about was that if the rock creature was after the Vala, then it probably would return.

And none of her people were safe.

A/N: Whaaaa? a Frozen fanfic with no characters from the film? No worries! They'll be in the next chapter, I promise! Chapter 1 should be out sometime next Friday or Saturday, so if you enjoyed this prologue, I hope you'll stick around the the rest!


	2. Chapter 1: Whispers of Winter

Frozen is owned By Disney,

All OCs are my creation,

Chapter 1: Whispers of Winter

_The Kingdom of Arendelle, a city by the sea, nestled and protected inside the…protective… arms of the great fjord. After many months of warmth and life hustling and bustling around the city, its people enjoying the sunshine of summer, cold had begun to return to the city. Soon the humid summer days were replaced by brisk breezes, growing colder as the days marched on. Today, the first day of winter would be upon Arendelle once again, and for many people, the coming winter winds bring with them the wonderful Solstice Festival, a celebration of the changing seasons. But for many people it also brought fourth terrible memories of the curse that had been placed upon the town a mere six months ago, returning fear into the hearts of many that had forgotten, though there were a few who refused to forget."_

"_But now it was all up to one lone princess to help them remember all the good things about winter, and restore the faith of the people of Arendelle…"_

"Oh I am _so_ writing that one down later!" Anna exclaimed excitedly, then saw some of the people around her stare awkwardly, and regained her composure, though she wanted to pull her knit cap over her face from her embarrassment, she just walked away as casually as she could, which ultimately made her look even more awkward, and tried to leave. The people continued to stare ather for a little longer, then eventually returned to work.

Anna had been wandering the busy streets of the city. She told herself she was "supervising," but honestly, all she seemed to be doing was walking aimlessly while everyone else was busy putting everything together for the festival. Still, she wanted to feel like she was contributing so she kept asking people for help, but most people turned her down. Whether this was because she was a princess and they thought it would somehow be improper to have her help them, or because they were afraid she would destroy anything she touched, she had no way of knowing.

"Okay, so I knock things over every once in awhile, No reason to treat me like I'm a menace…" Anna muttered to herself, and watched as the people worked on getting ready for the festival, rather halfheartedly, she noticed, but nonetheless organized.

"Well, everyone looks like they've got everything under control," Anna said to herself. "Not much for me to do but stand here and be bored…"

Six months after the whole incident with her sister accidentally unleashing an eternal winter upon Arendelle, Anna thought she would be able to get away from her life of loneliness, and for the most part, she had. Things had managed to change, if only sparsely. She had finally gotten what she wanted most, her connection with her sister. And at least the gates of the castle were open and Anna was no longer trapped and alone. She now had a whole world to explore and she had explored a little of it already. And though her plans to find true love didn't work out like she expected she did manage to meet Kristoff, and at the very least find someone who could put up with her quirkiness.

Now though, everything seemed different in _less_ of a good way than before.

Anna longed for something to do; something to distract her from this void within that was returning to her that she never wanted to revisit again. But Elsa was almost always busy being Queen, Kristoff was always busy with his ice delivering business.

"_Rather conveniently busy…"_ Anna thought to herself. And of course the people always seemed to be busy too, either that or they were just trying to ignore her.

It just seemed as though everyone had something to do except for her. Anna wanted…something. Not merely a distraction, she wanted to do something fulfilling, something that only she could do. Sadly the only talent she seemed to have was being awkward and clumsy. That's why she wanted to work on planning the festival so badly, so she could prove herself as being capable, which is why she was so overjoyed when Elsa relented and let her do it.

It turned out to be a lot duller than she expected…

Out of the typical commotion of people working to set up stands and tents, Anna suddenly heard the sounds of sobbing from somewhere in the crowds. She looked around for the source and saw a little boy wearing a large hat, crying into his coat sleeves. Anna recognized him as Anders, whom she had met a few weeks ago. The last time she saw him, he was playful and happy, and seeing him crying in the street tugged at her heartstrings so much that she, rather instantly, decided it was her mission to help him.

"Hey, hey, what's wrong Anders?" she asked him, concerned at what it could be that upset him so.

"Norm's missing…" he sniveled, not looking up at Anna as he continued to cry.

"Norm?" she asked him, starting to feel worried herself.

"My pig!" bawled Anders, finally looking up at Anna with tears streaming down his face.

_"Oh, I see. He's missing his pet,"_ Anna thought. _"For a second I thought his brother fell down a well or something. Still, I think I can help."_

Anna knelt down next to the boy and put her arm on his shoulder, hoping to comfort him, feeling it shake as he continued to sob.

"Well, want me to help you find him?" she offered

"No!" he cried out. "I want Queen Elsa to help me find him!"

Anna glanced away, looking slightly perturbed. _"I guess he still hasn't forgiven me for that whole 'hopscotch incident' has he?"_ she pondered. _"Either that, or he has a crush on my sister…or both."_

Still Anna began to see this as a challenge more than anything else; she would prove to Anders that she wasn't a screw-up! She'd find that pig in no time! But how to convince him of that?

"I'm surprised you don't know this, Anders," she said confidently. "_I _ am the kingdom's top…"

Anna's attention was suddenly drawn to a shaking apple cart nearby, and in the midst of all the apples she saw a springy tail pop up.

"…Pig!" Shouted Anna, then stood herself up and pointed in the direction of the cart.

"Halt, you swine!" she commanded breaking into a sprint towards the cart. Norm popped his head out of the apples, still holding one of them in his mouth and turned to see what the commotion was, and saw a princess charging toward him at full speed. His eyes widened with terror and he scrambled to get out of the cart, wriggling free just as Anna was mere inches away. She dove for the pig but he was on the ground running before she could even reach her hand out to grab him, but the momentum of her charge carried her forward, causing her to collide with the apple cart, toppling it over as the rolled off of it. Still, she didn't let that stop her as she stood up rather quickly and gave chase. As she began to run again she heard a horrified cry and saw a bearded man holding his hands to his head in bewilderment at the toppled cart and its ruined contents.

"I'm sorry!" Anna called back, continuing to run. "I'll replace the appl-"

Her apology was interrupted as she felt herself hit a solid wooden surface, her momentum again carrying her further and finding her sliding across a long wooden table lined from one side to the other with pies.

Pies which she was sliding straight towards!

Anna yelled as she felt pie after pie smash into her face and she could feel what was left of them sliding under her sliding body as well. All she could do was thrash around a bit and try to spit out the bits of pastry that flew into her mouth before she finally started to slow down; she had finally reached the end of the table.

Anna tried to collect herself, but her heart leapt as she felt the table suddenly tilting to the side, and let out a shriek as the table flipped upside down, putting her on the ground and the table on top of her. She grunted in pain as she lifted the massive table up just enough to get out from under it, and grabbed onto a nearby wooden pole, for support. She panted heavily for a second, until she saw the distraught faces of a man and a woman, both wearing aprons and doilies that were now covered with blueberry stains.

"Oh dear…" said Anna, trying to catch her breath while the bakers stood there staring at her, mouths agape. "I'm sorry…I'll help you bake more-."

"No!" the bakers responded unanimously, waving their hand in front of them. Feeling guilty, Anna looked at the ground, but was caught of guard then the pole she was leaning on suddenly jerked forward.

"Woah!" she yelled as the pole moved forward, plunging itself into the ground, then lifted itself back up just before swinging forward quickly and repeating the action. Instinctively, Anna climbed up higher, and immediately regretted doing it.

"Woah-woah-woah-woah!" Anna clung onto the wooden pole as it swung back and forth violently, threatening to throw her off. She looked around and saw another long wooden stick opposite of the one she was holding onto, moving in tandem with it. She then looked up and saw a man in a large festive hat walking on stilts, one of which she was hanging onto.

"Excuse me, good sir!" she called out to him, starting to get dizzy as she kept swinging. The stilt-walked suddenly stopped and lifted his left leg, seeing Anna latched onto it.

Anna sighed with relief before she spoke again. "Good sir, please…" she began, but her polite request trailed off when she heard a distinct snorting sound below her. She looked down to the source of it, and down on the fair ground, she gasped as she saw Norm again. The pig was sniffing the ground and seemingly unaware. Even though Anna was in a rather…awkward situation, this was her chance to actually catch him. She seemed to gain her second wind as she turned back to face the stilt-walker and pointed excitedly at Norm.

"Follow that pig!"

The man atop looked puzzled for a second, then shrugged his shoulders and began moving again, this time in the direction of the pig. Norm looked up and saw the looming figure lumbering towards him and took off once more. Without needing to be commanded, the stilt-walker sped up his pursuit, lengthening his stride. This made the force of the leg motions more intense, but they seemed to no longer bother Anna, who was now using her new height to her advantage, and seemingly enjoying the chase. Norm however, used his smaller size to his advantage as well, diving and darting through various tents and stands, and even under some people's legs trying to escape, while the much more clumsy-moving stilt walker had a much more difficult time, knocking over many tables of festival food, scaring the daylights out of the party-goers, and even getting his stilts caught on some of the tents, ripping some of them off their frames.

"Woah-Oh! There he is! Th-there he is!" shouted Anna, pointing at the bobbing and weaving swine. "Don't let him get away! Stay on 'em!"

Just then both Anna and the stilt walker realized they had cleared out of the way of the festival, but now the chase was leading them to a large, stone wall. Anna thought that Norm would stop there, now cornered and easy to catch, but the little pig continued to run even as he reached the wall. Then the pig squeezed through a tiny hole near the bottom.

"Oh no!" cried Anna, both because she knew Norm was beyond her reach, and because she was rapidly closing on the wall. Anna climbed up higher until she was high enough to see over the edge and avoid being smashed, but the stilt-walked dug both stilts firmly into the ground just before he hit the wall, stopping abruptly and causing Anna to lose her grip and fly off. She was thankfully close enough to the wall that she was able to roll onto it, and not get hurt, but she was still being carried forward by her momentum and rolled to her feet just before she could fall off the edge. She stood wobbling on the precipice of the wall, trying desperately not to fall off, but she could feel gravity starting to pull her down. As she fell she managed to grab onto a rope with small triangular flags attached to it, and slid down the rope with her hands toward the mast of the small boat it was attached to. She could feel every flag whipping her in the face as she zipped across the rope and landed squarely onto the ship's mast. Just as Anna thought her ordeal was over, she felt the ship's mast leaning forward, and saw that the boat was capsizing! As the mast swung down far enough she stood up and balanced herself on the small wooden pole, hoping to get enough time to jump off, but it was sinking too fast. So instead, she simply turned around to face the wall, and saw Norm sitting there watching her as she began to sink, and all Anna could do was look at the creature with an annoyed scowl.

"Hoooooookay…" she sighed, as the mast, and herself, sank under the water

Anna had now found herself floating in the cold seas as the boat's mast dipped further down, preventing her from standing on it anymore.

"_Well…_that_ happened…" _thought Anna. "_So…maybe I should get out of here?" _Anna tried to swim up to the surface, but despite her kicking and swinging, she didn't move at all.

"_Oh right, I can't swim…" _she stated to , the realization of what she had just said suddenly hit her

"_I can't swim!"_

Anna flailed frantically in the water, but found that she still didn't move. _"Okay okay, don't panic,"_ she thought, trying to calm down and moved her arms and legs slowly in the water, trying not to sink any further. _"I'm sure someone noticed I fell in the water and will get me out soon…I hope."_

Anna looked up at the surface of the water, but didn't see anyone around that could help her. Feeling her heart start to beat a little faster, she tried to reassure herself.

"_I mean, I did just fall off the wall, I'm sure at least someone saw that right? But what if they didn't? What if they did but they can't get to me and I run out of air? What if I'm left here to be stuck forever on the sea floor, like some kind of antique lost at sea-oh no I'm-panicking!"_

Just then, she saw a rope fall into the water right next to her. _"Oh hey!"_ she said in her mind as she quickly grabbed the rope, tugging it frantically, then gripping it tightly when she felt it being pulled toward the surface. Anna looked up to where the rope had come from and saw the bottom of a ship. She couldn't tell what kind it was because of the morning sun hanging just over the ship, but at this point, she didn't care as long as they were saving her. Anna gasped for air as she broke to the surface; though the chilly air didn't help her feel any better after spending some time in cold water, she was happy to be able to breathe it again.

"Oh, thank you so much for your help!" she exclaimed with gratitude before even seeing the faces of her rescuers as she got close to the side of the ship. "For a minute there I thought I was going to-woah!" she yelped as whoever was lifting her out of the water suddenly yanked hard on the rope and lifted her up above the deck, but with her still hovering over the water. She found herself face to face with a large, burly man. He had a thick, scraggly looking dark beard and long hair to match, he had one brown eye, the other wrapped over with a cloth. Anna saw that he had quite a few scars on his face as well. He was also very muscular, so much so that he held the rope carrying Anna over his head with one hand, leaving Anna dangling in front of him like a fish on a line. After a second, the man let out a low grunt.

Anna, tried not to stare and simply spoke up "Th-thank you good sir," She said, as graciously as possible while still shivering from the cold. "I really apprecia-oh!" The man didn't let her finish as he swung the rope around to move Anna onto the deck, then dropped her.

"Oof!" Anna landed on the deck with a small thud, but was otherwise unharmed, and the man glanced at her for a brief second, than turned around and walked away. As he left Anna could see an annoyed looking girl behind him

"You could have been a bit gentler Bo…" she scolded, but the man continued to walk away, as if he didn't hear her. Then the girl turned toward Anna, she looked around her age, with dark brown hair much like the man's and her eyes were deep blue. She was pretty; nothing amazing, but it was noticeable for someone with a little bit of dirt and grime on her face that is, and she wore dark clothing that looked like it was made out of leather and wool, and strapped to her back what looked like a small wooden staff with an odd basket-like shape at the top and symbols etched into it.

"Sorry about that, apparently _he's feeling especially cranky today._" She raised her voice a bit as she emphasized those last few words, clearly directing him at the large man, but he just stomped below deck and slammed the door. The girl offered her hand to Anna, who earnestly accepted and let the girl lift her up. "I'm Sigrid, by the way. Nice to meet you. It's a good thing we came along when we did."

"Oh, I'm sure someone would have come running eventually," Anna joked, laughing nervously. "Not that I don't appreciate the help! I'm Anna, princess of Arendelle."

"Princess..?" said Sigrid, looking puzzled, then suddenly blinked in surprise. "Oh!" she blurted out, then suddenly began backing away and trying to do a posture that looked more like a combination of bowing and curtsying.

"Well, this is awkward…" she mumbled as she struggled to remember the proper etiquette. "Um, Sorry, your…your highness! I had no idea..."

"Whoa, hey! It's alright!" said Anna feeling somewhat embarrassed. "You all just saved me from spending at eternity on the ocean floor, so I don't think we need to stand on ceremony. And just call me Anna."

"Sorry…" replied Sigrid sheepishly. "It's just I've never really left home, so I don't know a whole lot about customs in other lands. And honestly I had no idea we were saving a princess. How'd you end up in the water like that?"

"Oh, it's a long story that involves a pig, apples, pies and some guy on stilts," answered Anna casually while grinning awkwardly. "Pretty boring stuff honestly…" Sigrid stared at Anna awkwardly for a second, and then both girls suddenly burst out laughing.

"Sounds like a pretty interesting story." Sigrid said after she finally stopped giggling and leaned on the side of the ship. "You're not like any princess I expected."

"Yeah, that's what everybody says…" replied Anna. She said it with a laugh and a smile, but the comment had bruised her feelings a bit. Still, she didn't want this girl know that and decided to just change the subject.

"So, uh, where are you guys from?"

"My people and I came from the Great Northern Isle," explained Sigrid.

"Oh right…that place." Anna said, feeling mortified that she had never heard of it. "Um…where exactly was that again? I've been kinda lazy with my geography lessons…heh."

"No worries," responded Sigrid with a smile. "It's pretty much a big island to the north, as the name implies." Sigrid chuckled, then continued. "It's surprisingly not as cold as you might expect for being that far up there, and there's only one big city along the southwest coast

"Why?" inquired Anna. "Did you not like it there?"

"It's a long story…" Sigrid sighed, "One that we don't like to talk about, sorry."

"No, it's okay, I understand," said Anna. "We all have our reasons to keep secrets right?"

"Yeah…" Sigrid looked downtrodden, but then her expression switched to surprise. "Oh, sorry! You're still soaked! I can get you a blanket or something if you want."

"Thanks, but I'll be fine," Anna replied politely. "I'm sure we're about to dock soon, so I'll just go home and change then."

"Ok, if you're sure," said Sigrid. "I have to let everyone know that we're about to go ashore, but I'll meet you when we reach the docks."

"Okay, sure!" replied Anna, and Sigrid moved to go below deck, in a much more casual manner than the last person, and Anna watched as the ship docked with the harbor, seeing the dockhands tie the ship down as it settled into the docks. A few seconds later, Sigrid came back from below deck. Anna felt a bit more nervous when she saw Bo plodding behind Sigrid, but she was more than eager to make a new friend after nearly six months of loneliness with the occasional sporadic visit from her loved ones, so she just decided to grin and bear it. She watched as the burly man removed the docking ramp from its place under the side of the ship and slid it toward the docks, now giving the ship's passengers access to dry land, and let Sigrid depart the ship first, and he followed.

"Hey, wait up!" called Anna as she rushed to get off the ship slipping past Bo and making her way towards Sigrid. She heard a low growl from the man as she moved past him, but Sigrid turned to face him with a stern look.

"Be nice…" she told him, and the growling stopped, though he looked no less irritated.

"Sorry about him," she said to Anna, "Bo's my guardian, for lack of a better word, and he's kinda…protective. He'd be a lot more fun to talk to if he actually…talked."

Anna blinked in surprise at hearing that and looked at Bo again; he was still wearing the same stern face and didn't bother to open his mouth to speak at all. He glared at Anna once their eyes met and she immediately turned her gaze from him, returning her attention to Sigrid as they walked.

"Is he always so…surly?" she asked.

"In Bo's defense, we've had a lot of bad luck these last few months," Sigrid explained. "He doesn't trust easily, and this whole mess hasn't helped."

Anna looked bemused as to what Sigrid meant, but then Sigrid leaned in and whispered in Anna's ear _"Plus, he's just grumpy today because he hasn't gotten a chance to eat breakfast yet."_

Anna giggled slightly at the comment, but she heard Bo clear his throat loudly behind her and she flinched, standing herself up straight again.

"He won't hurt you, I promise," Sigrid reassured her. "But people aren't exactly welcoming to us, so he's in turn not really welcoming of 'outsiders.'"

"Why? What's so bad about your people?" Anna asked, "I mean, you rescue drowning princesses so you can't be _all_ bad right?"

"It isn't anything we did, not as far as I know anyway." Sigrid responded. "It's more like, people are afraid of what we _might _do. I can't really say more than that…"

"Oh, okay…" said, Anna, still feeling confused, but then she noticed that they had finally walked off the docks. "Oh look! Here we are!"

Sigrid and Anna now had full view of the City of Arendelle, from the city itself, to the sprawling buildings to the tall, pointed, spires of the Chapel to the massive Royal Castle to the west of the docks. But it seemed like the most activity was occurring right in front of them. The Solstice festival was almost in full swing now; people were setting up tables full of food, mainly meats and pastries with fruits and vegetables, though there was less produce here than there might be for a similar festival in the spring or summer. People were setting up various tents and there were quite a few merchants in town selling wares from their kiosks. And of course, the apple cart and pie table Anna had knocked over earlier had been put back up and apparently been thoroughly cleaned, though they had a bit less food than before, meaning they were just starting to replace what she had destroyed. Thankfully she didn't see any sign of the bakers, who must've been in the kitchen baking more pies. But she did see the stilt-walker man, who was busy entertaining come children, including Anders, who was holding onto his pet pig Norm quite tightly as he was laughing and dancing.

"Whew…glad _that _worked itself out." She said softly with a small smile.

"Glad what worked out?" inquired Sigrid looking puzzled.

"Oh nothing!" Anna blurted out waving her hands in front of her. "It's nothing! No need to worry about it, just, you know, talking to myself. I do that sometimes…"

"Oh good, I thought I was the only one who did that." Sigrid said jokingly. "But wow! Look at all this! I can't remember the last time I saw so much going on in a city before, are you having some kind of celebration?"

"It's the festival celebrating the Winter Solstice," explained Anna, hoping to divert Sigrid's attention away from the damage she had caused earlier. "Arendelle hasn't had one in years, and this is the first time since…" Anna's words trailed off as she began to remember the ordeals of the past. How she had spent the last fifteen years of her life shut in the castle. It wasn't something she wanted to bring up again.

"It's just…been a long time."

"Well, I look forward to seeing it," said Sigrid, then she turned herself slightly back toward the docks.

"Anyway, we need to get going." She said, tilting her head toward the docks, and the line of people getting off the ship. "It was nice to meet you."

Sigrid turned to leave but Anna suddenly scrambled to get in front of her, "W-wait! You're leaving? But you just got here! I thought you were going to stay in town."

"Sorry but we can't," Sigrid said regrettably. "We spent every last coin we had just trying to get here. Apparently, ship fares to the Mainland aren't cheap. We can't afford to stay anywhere."

"Oh, sorry I didn't know," responded Anna. But she wasn't one to give up easily and thought for a minute for a solution before one came to her. "Oh! You could stay in the palace if you want. My sister's the Queen, so I'm sure if I talk to her you could-"

"That's really sweet of you, but like I said before we aren't really well liked in most places," said Sigrid, looking a little sad as she said it. "We'll probably just be outside of the city though. We do need to trade some goods if we want to keep moving."

Aww, but what about the festival?" pleaded Anna, drooping her shoulders and looking disappointed. "You'll miss the big celebration we were planning. Could you at least stay for a little while to see it?"

"Well I _do_ want to…" said Sigrid, then tapped her finger against her cheek, doing a little pondering of her own before finally saying, "Wait here, I'll be right back."

Sigrid ran back to the docks with Bo following behind, there were a few other people leaving the boat now as well, many of them dressed in a similar fashion as Sigrid and Bo were. Sigrid ran over to what looked like an older woman, but she was too far away to hear what they were saying to one another.

Anna suddenly felt a shiver run through her as she became more aware of the brisk winds on her wet clothes. Even though she was dressed in the appropriate garb for this time of year, it didn't help much when she was all but soaked to the bone. If she didn't want to catch a cold she needed to go get changed soon. But at the same time she didn't want to just run off without hearing Sigrid's answer, after all, it has been a long time since someone new came to Arendelle, and the chance to have a new friend and at least alleviate some of her boredom was almost too good to pass up at this point.

After a moment or two, Sigrid ran back towards Anna, a smile on her face.

"I spoke with my grandmother," she said excitedly. "And she said I could see the festival when it starts!"

"Really? That's great!" exclaimed Anna jubilantly "This is the first time we've done something like this in a long time, so I want to make it really special for everyone."

"Sounds like fun!" Sigrid replied with enthusiasm. "I have to go help everyone unpack, but I'll be back later when it starts, okay?"

"Sounds good! See you then!" Anna said, waving goodbye to Sigrid as she bounded away to join the others, helping some of the other people off the boat and carrying some of their effects for them as they departed.

"Okay!" Anna said to herself. "Now we go get changed," she then ran merrily toward the castle, feeling much better than she had been earlier that day, despite all the mishaps. Still, as she got closer to the palace she was feeling a little worried about her sister, and how she was handling the preparations, but that didn't dull her excitement as the trotted up the castle steps. Still shivering, she nonetheless looked forward to the festival. She had the feeling it was going to be memorable.

A/N: Okay first chapter done! Hopefully this chapter worked out well; it's not perfect by any means, but then again this is mostly for fun! :P

Btw the scene where Anna chases a pig is actually based on the deleted scene from the original film that can be found in the Special Features of the movie. I wanted to add it for alot of reasons, mainly that it fit the situation, and because I was having horrible writer's block and couldn't think of anything for this chapter. then I saw this scene and thought it was perfect! hopefully it isn't against any rules or anything. I wanted to use an edited version of "More than Just the Spare" which was a cut song from the original film, but apparently that's forbodden by the site's rules and since I didn't have enough time to come up with another song, I just decided to have no song here. I still plan on writing them, but there will be only a few since songs in prose can be a bit distracting. Also, this chapter took awhile to come out, but I'm currently working on Ch2 so hopefully that one will be out on time. Until then!

(also one last thing regarding my OC here, I did some more research on the practices and cultures her people were based off of and I made a change to her weapons/equipment, I will edit the prologue to include this change as well.)


	3. Chapter 2: Beware the Frozen Heart

A/N: Hello again! Sorry thos has taken so long to upload. Been working on a few other projects so my fanfic went on the backburner for a bit. Just letting you know that this next chapter also contains a deleted scene from the film, though edited. It just goes to show how few ideas I seemed to have for the early parts of the story. No worries though, this will be the last use of a deleted scene I promise!

Frozen is owned by Disney

All OCs are my creation.

Chapter 3: Beware the Frozen Heart

"Good people of Arendelle. I, Elsa, Snow Queen of Arendelle, greet you on this, the day of the Winter solstice festival! This is a day of…No! This doesn't feel right!" Elsa trailed off, and her eyes began to dart back and fourth as she began to massage her temples. "I can't say 'snow queen!' What am I thinking?"

Elsa was in her room, mere minutes away from having to recite the very speech she was trying to rehearse for the upcoming Solstice Festival.

"This is no good at all…" Elsa muttered, wringing her hands in trepidation and let out a frustrated sigh. "This is why I hate speeches ..."

Today was the winter solstice, which meant that the Winter Festival would be underway shortly. Elsa had spent many sleepless nights trying to organize it; for this was a very important day for her, especially after the rather bad impression she made six months ago.

Elsa knew that for many people, the Winter Festival was going to bring back some bad memories, but at the same time that's why it was so important for her to make a good impression if it also would give her a chance to regain her people's trust.

"Okay, let's try this again…" Said Elsa to herself, struggling to find the right words she would be addressing her people with. She then stood up right, cleared her throat, and lifted up her arms again to address the imaginary crowd.

"'People of Arendelle," she began again. "I know this event may bring back… memories of…' No, no, no! Ugh! Come on Elsa, do you _want_ them to riot?"

Elsa began pacing back and fourth, trying to wrack her brain to come up with the right words she needed to get the people on her side, but the more the pushed herself, the more obvious it became that nothing was coming to her. She angrily marched up to her window and braced her hands on the nearby table, looking out at the people below. Then she saw something she didn't think would be there waiting for her: her reflection in the window.

Elsa's attention was drawn to her own frightened image, half-transparent in the window, which was ironically very much how she felt: exposed. While she had made a few changes since the coronation, at the same time she also chose went back to her older, more "acceptable" attire as well. She had started to feel like the blue, magical snow dress was too flamboyant and made people think of her as the Snow Queen rather than simply Queen Elsa. She did abandon the tight bun her hair had been in before however, and left it in the long, braided style she had six months ago, mainly because it was more comfortable than the other style. Even still, the addition of her long hair gave way to a new habit, wherein she would wring her hair a bit whenever she got particularly nervous. And in truth, she had been feeling a lot more nervous lately.

Lastly, she had a new crown forged for her to replace the one she had discarded, and it surprisingly went really well with her longer hairstyle.

Just then, her attention was drawn to the direction of the North Mountain in the distance. Though its view was obscured by the rocky canyons of the fjord, she was almost felt like she could see it in her mind's eye. She remembered her ice palace, the exhilarating rush of freedom she felt when she was away from the people and their perceptions of her. She had no reason to hide and no need to worry about hurting others.

And there had been many days since returning home where she had always felt just a little bit tempted to run away again; to live in solitude and peace. The more she felt the eyes of her people upon her, the more enticing the thought became.

Just as it seemed like Elsa was getting lost in those thoughts, she shook her head, as if to work the idea out of her head. She was Queen now, and she had a responsibility to Arendelle and its people. Not to mention she had Anna, the only family she had left, and despite her sister's antics and foolish, if not sometimes dangerous stunts, she knew that Anna needed her, and truth be told Elsa needed Anna just as much.

Right now, it seemed like the bond she had with Anna was the only thing keeping her from running away.

Elsa let out a heavy sigh, and returned to her thoughts of the festival, then turned her attention to the people below, watching them all get ready for a festival that hadn't been done in Arendelle since she was a little girl.

And it looked as if Elsa's feelings of misery had been transferred other people as well…

While Elsa couldn't see their faces from her high window, she had read about posture and body language a few years ago when she was learning to take over as Queen. Her studies taught her a lot about people's emotional state based on the way they stood, the way they walked, or even something as simple as hand gestures that most people wouldn't take a second glance at Elsa could see the sluggish stride in some of the peoples' steps as they walked across the bridge to and from the castle. Some were busy setting up tents and stands and tables, looking hunched over as they worked, their movements seeming slow and even a little forced, as though they didn't want to be there at all. Elsa even saw the listless, clumsy hand movements of a few bakers as they halfheartedly passed pies and pastries to one another to sit on a table. So many people looked generally unhappy to be doing this work, and some of them even had jittery, erratic movements, like they were scared.

But they weren't the only ones feeling frightened…

As she was bracing her hands on the table by the window, she felt ice suddenly appear from beneath them, she gasped in shock and instinctively lifted up her hands, but still ice continued to spread along the table until it reached a potted plant with roses in it., then it crept up and enveloped it, pot and all, causing the whole thing to shatter rather loudly.

"No, no, no, no, no…" whispered Elsa timidly, looking at her open hands. She was beginning to lose control again…

Even though Elsa made taken some steps in learning how to control her powers, and even reverse most of what she could do, her control still managed to fail her when she felt too scared or anxious. It was negligible at first, but as time went on and Elsa grew more nervous around her people, things began to slowly, but surely, spiral out of control. And preparing for this festival made her feel more anxious than she had been for months, which seemed to culminate into her current state of mind.

Even still, Elsa also understood that she had to put her fears aside and concentrate, so she tried the breathing exercises she had read about.

"Calm yourself…" she chanted, taking a deep breath. "Control yourself…" she said on the exhale. The exercise did little to calm the storm of doubt raging in her head, but still she persisted. This was her chance; she couldn't let her fears overcome her now, she had to find a way to relax…

"Elsa?"

The Queen gasped in surprise as she heard the door abruptly click open and her name called. Anna was coming into her room, no doubt to change her clothes or something, since Anna's most frequent hobby seemed to be finding new ways to ruin, or destroy, her expensive outfits. Elsa looked back at the broken vase covered in ice and reached for a tablecloth to cover it up. Even though Anna now knew about her powers, she didn't want Anna to see her losing control again and quickly covered the mess as discreetly as possible. She then turned around to see the younger princess come rushing in through the door, dripping water on the floor while at the same time having stains of various color and size all over her clothes, and her knit cap was gone as well.

"I'm here," said an out of breath Anna as she closed the door behind her, almost slipping on the puddle she was making. "I'm back!"

Elsa looked at the mess her sister was in, and couldn't help but smirk.

"What happened to you?" she said dryly, showing her lack of surprise.

"Pig… Pie…" said Anna as walked over to the shared wardrobe, still dripping as she opened the doors. "I mean-not a 'pig-pie!' but pig _and_ pie." She then stepped in, wet clothes and all and closed the curtains, throwing her wet and dirty clothes out of it, and then suddenly popped her head out.

"…And ocean." She added before retreating back into the wardrobe.

Elsa just shook her head, feeling both annoyed and amused. This was hardly the most chaos Anna had caused lately, but the fact that it was on such an important ceremony, which Anna was supposed to be supervising no less, didn't fill Elsa with much confidence.

"Where's my blue coat?" asked Anna, calling out from inside the wardrobe.

"Still recovering from the last time you wore it," answered Elsa.

"Right…" Anna responded, sounding embarrassed. She then returned to sifting through the various garments in the wardrobe tossing most of them out carelessly, even tossing out a small shoe that barely missed colliding with Elsa's face, hitting the wall behind her. Elsa let out a yelp and flinched as the flying shoe just barely missed her face.

"Sorry!" cried Anna, continuing to toss clothes out regardless.

"Please don't make a mess…" sighed Elsa, even as she saw more clothes flying out of the wardrobe and falling on the floor, or a table, or a chair. She rolled her eyes as she began picking up discarded the clothes closest to her. "Haven't they replaced your wardrobe by now?"

"Nope!" exclaimed Anna, continuing to throw clothes around, which Elsa then tried to pick up and fold neatly. "They told me it was gonna be another week or so."

"Ugh…" was Elsa's only reply, knowing she'd have to deal with Anna's untidiness even longer.

"Oh!" said Anna, the flying clothes finally ceasing. The wardrobe doors flew open and out stepped Anna. "How about…this?"

Anna leaped out from the wardrobe in a long dress, which was more appropriate for the colder weather, except for the colors which were a huge collage of multicolored diamond shapes and patterns across a deep blue background. The gaudy thing was so tacky that Elsa wondered why Anna liked it so much, but Elsa was content to have never worn it after she had received it.

"Mm-mm," Elsa responded shaking her head in disapproval as she folded up one of the discarded dresses. "You are _not_ wearing that to the festival."

"Okay," Anna relented, jumping back into the wardrobe and tossing the dress out.

Elsa shook her head, still smirking, but also still feeling annoyed as she placed the folded clothes neatly on a chair, and found herself looking at the window again, and her apprehension return. She wrung her hair as she looked at the people, finally setting the last of the stands up. Even thought hey were all but finished, they didn't exactly have a new spring in their steps, which only made Elsa feel worse about herself. She was so distracted that she didn't notice Anna hopping out of the wardrobe again. Anna was wearing a violet dress, with a familiar, magenta cloak with a matching hood, which Elsa had seen her wear before, six months ago.

"How about this?" she said. " Been awhile since I wore it, but maybe retro is in right now, Right?" But the smile on her face faded as she saw her sister looking out the window.

Elsa turned her head slightly. "It's fine Anna…" she said, then turned her head back to the window.

"Elsa?" asked Anna. "Is everything okay?"

"I wish I could say 'yes," responded Elsa, rather somberly. "But to be honest, I'm terrified…"

"Why?" inquired Anna. "This isn't six months ago, the eternal winter is over, _real_ winter is about to begin, everything's back the way it's supposed to be…right?"

Anna was asking Elsa the question, but she was beginning to doubt her own words too. _Had_ things really changed that much?

"…I mean when we came back to the city, you were so much happier, you were almost like how you used to be when we were little," said Anna, sounding hurt. " But now, it's like you're slipping back into that, 'shutting people out' thing again…"

Elsa wrung her hair tighter and took a sharp breath in, still refusing to face Anna. The younger princess had intended to try and comfort her sister, but instead it seemed she had ended up venting a bit, and she could tell it was affecting her.

"I mean, I completely understand why you did it," Anna said, trying to be reassuring. She moved closer to Elsa and extended her hand, hoping to comfort her. "But things are different now Elsa, you don't have to be afraid…"

Just as Anna was about to place her hand on her sister's shoulder, Elsa spun around and faced her, scowling.

"You don't understand at all, Anna…" Elsa said sternly. "It isn't that simple. You can't make fifteen years of fear and isolation just disappear. Especially when…" Elsa's words trailed off and she looked down to the floor. "Especially when I'm supposed to be Queen and the people I'm ruling over are afraid of me!"

Anna blinked in surprise, and then looked puzzled. "Elsa, what in the world makes you think that?" she asked her. "The people love you! Don't you remember when you made the castle courtyard into a skating rink that one time? People were joining in and everything."

"That was then, Anna," retorted Elsa. "You haven't seen the looks they common people gave me whenever I passed them in town or the fear when I looked into the eyes of some of the nobles and the servants at court. Whatever the people thought of me six months ago, the only thing I see in their eyes is fear. Do you have any idea how that feels?"

Elsa closed her eyes, almost looking like she was about to cry, and turned to face the window again and clamped her hands on the windowsill. Anna could see ice starting to build up around her sister's hands as the gripped the windowsill tighter.

"And how can I blame them?" she added. "After everything I did, how can I expect them to not be afraid of me?"

"Elsa…" said Anna, feeling guilty for venting just a second ago, when clearly her sister was still having so much trouble. "I'm sorry; I didn't realize you felt that way…."

Anna felt like she had a pit in her stomach, trying to find the right words to say. She knew she couldn't let Elsa slip back into her old ways; she just couldn't accept that. But it was still a very tenuous situation, so saying the wrong thing might just make it worse.

"Still though, avoiding people isn't the answer either." Anna gently placed her hand on her sister's shoulder, feeling how cold it was, even through the fabric of Elsa's robes. "I'm here to help if you need me, you know. Just, please, don't shut me out again…"

Elsa sighed heavily. "Oh Anna…" she said sadly, then turned back around, just more slowly and gently this time, and took her sister's hands into her own. "If there's one thing you can be sure of, it's that I'm never going to shut you out again."

Though Elsa still sounded scared, Anna could hear the sincerity in her sister's words, and she smiled warmly.

"Oh…come here you!" Anna practically latched onto her sister and pulled her in for a warm embrace. The sudden speed and force of it made Elsa yelp, which caused both girls to giggle a bit, before hugging each other warmly. It was a relief for both of them, just a few seconds to relax and let go of their frustrations and back in their familial bonds. But eventually it had to be over.

"But..." Elsa resumed. "I am still Queen, and as such, I still have responsibilities to my Arendelle and its people, and that means we can't always spend a whole lot of time together like we did when we were little."

"Yeah, I know…" said Anna, " Like you've said, we all have to grow up some time."

"As long as you start using your head more," teased Elsa, poking her sister on the forehead.

"Only if you start having more of a heart," Anna teased back, and then suddenly blinked in surprise. "Oh! Speaking of. This is going to be a rather big celebration, you might even get to meet that special someone…"

"Oh, don't even start," Elsa said with a laugh. "Romance is the _last_ thing on my mind right now."

"Aw, come on, are you really so busy ruling a kingdom that you don't think you'll ever find your own Mr. Right?"

"Something like that…" Elsa chuckled. "And like I said, people are too afraid of me to even consider that sort of thing a possibility."

"Oh, I don't know. I'm pretty sure that a little boy named Anders is a fan of yours," Anna teased.

"Well _that's_ reassuring." Elsa said with a chuckle, and then let out another sigh. "Okay I suppose it's just about time to go."

"Wait," said Anna. "Are you really going to the Solstice Festival in _that_?"

Anna pointed at Elsa's dress, and the queen looked down to see if Anna was pointing out something specific, but she was actually talking about the purple and black royal dress itself.

"What's wrong with the way I'm dressed?" asked a puzzled Elsa.

"Oh, there's nothing _wrong_ with it per se," Anna replied. "But this is the _Winter _Solstice Festival. Why not wear that blue snowflake dress you used to have?"

Elsa looked at her feet and shook her head. "People don't want to see that Anna…" she said solemnly. "They just want memories of me and my powers to go away. They don't want anything that will remind them of six months ago..."

"Oh come on Elsa…" said Anna. "If you don't want people to be afraid of you, then you just have to show them there's nothing to be scared of right? How are you gonna do that if you aren't being yourself and just doing what everyone else wants you to do?"

Elsa blinked in surprise, and then looked away again, not knowing what to say in response. She thought up a lot of counter-arguments in her head, but she found they all inevitably reached the same conclusion, that Anna was right; she was forgoing what she wanted for what her subjects found acceptable. Even though as Queen, she had good reason to acquiesce to her people's wishes, it became clearer that she wasn't going to conquer her trepidation this way.

"I...I guess you have a point…" Elsa conceded, though reluctantly. "Running away never solved anything."

"Right!" Anna agreed exuberantly. "So let's get it!" Anna rushed back into the wardrobe, but left the curtains open this time, as she perused thought he hanging dresses, trying to look for the blue dress there. "I'm sure it's in here somewhere…"

Of course, the dress would not be found there

"Um…Anna…" Elsa tried to gain her attention, but Anna continued to rummage through the wardrobe.

"It's okay, I'll find it!" Anna assured her sister and continued to comb through the wardrobe. Elsa laughed softly, knowing that she wasn't going to deter Anna with words, and took a deep breath before bringing her hands down to her sides, and making a swift motion with them around her feel., closing her eyes as she tried to concentrate. And she felt the familiar tingling sensation of her magic as is enveloped itself around the hem of her dress.

"Hmm…I can't find it in here…" Anna said, sounding confused, then closed the wardrobe. "You know, I never asked, but how did you even manage to make it in the first..?"

As Anna returned her gaze to Elsa, she found herself staring n awe as her sister's magic enveloped her, starting the bottom of her robes, changing them from the dark, green and black fabrics into a softer, thinner material. As Elsa brought down her arms, Anna could see magic enveloping the hem of her dress, moving upward ad transforming the dark green skirt into a tighter, more petit dress, the magic shined with a white light as it moved up higher, enveloping Elsa's dress as she lifted her arms up and let the magic reach them as well. Soon, her old outfit was completely replaced with the shimmering, light blue dress she had made when she left Arendelle six months ago. Finally, Elsa threw hands back and a long, flowing cape emblazoned with snowflake patterns emerged before her. Else couldn't help but grin to herself as the magic was done. Sure, this garb was reminiscent of a darker time of her life, but she always found it somewhat liberating as well, like she was at peace with her powers and in control. Anna was right; it had actually managed to lift a bit of stress off of her heart.

Speaking of Anna, Elsa found her sister staring, mouth agape at the scene. Then, after an awkward silence, Anna spoke up again.

"Oh…" she began, still looking in amazement. "So that's how you made it."

Elsa chuckled nervously. "More or less..."

"The crown goes well with it too," Anna added. Elsa looked up, having forgotten about the crown, and reached up and grabbed it, taking it off of her head and taking a look at it. Though Anna said the crown went well with her dress, for her it was actually more of a contrast. The crown was a representation of her role as Queen, it was symbolic of all her responsibilities and expectations. And in many ways it was symbolic of her fear. The dress on the other hand, represented freedom to her. It was a symbol of her desire for freedom, peace and control within herself. On the other side, it was also a reminder of just how little control she had. Though Elsa had learned to control it better than she used to, it was still apparent that if fear ruled her heart, her powers would reflect that.

"Elsa?" Anna suddenly asked, breaking the trance Elsa had found herself in. "You okay?"

"I'll be fine," she assured her sister, placing the crown back on her head. She was Queen, and she had a duty to serve her people, and that was more important than anything else right now, though it did no less to improve her spirits. "Well I suppose we should go."

"Right," Anna responded simply, still sounding concerned as she walked with her sister out of her room, even though Elsa's mood had improved somewhat, she still looked nervous. So Anna decided to try and change the subject.

"So, do you think you could make me a dress like that?" she asked her sister.'

"No."

"Oh come on! It's so cool…no pun intended."

Both girls giggled at the comment, then Elsa spoke up again. "For safety reasons, I think it would be best if I limit any such dressmaking to myself."

"Aw, you're mean," Anna said jokingly as the two walked briskly down the stairs leading to the main hall, and finally made it to the great doors that lead outside.

"How does that work anyway…" Anna continued. "I mean, you have ice powers right? How is it that you can make a dress with..?"

Anna's words trailed off as the doors were opened letting the bright sunshine and brisk winds pour into the castle. Both girls blinked as the sun's rays met their eyes, once they adjusted they saw the festivities were now underway. There were people crowded in the castle courtyard and lined up across the bridge leading into town, ready to greet their queen. Once the doors revealed Elsa and Anna, the crowd went into an uproar of cheering and clapping. Both queen and princess walked past the cheering people, first the nobles and servants in the courtyard. Elsa looked around her, seeing many people cheering, but some, including some of the castle staff, looking at her oddly, like there was something alien about her. When she got to the bridge however, things seemed even worse. While plenty of people were cheering, Elsa saw many more eyes gazing upon her, and they did not look friendly and welcoming. Elsa's eyes darted from one person to another, always managing to find a wary eye fixed upon her somewhere.

"Anna…people are staring at me…" she murmured nervously to her sister.

"You're the Queen, Elsa," Anna whispered back. "Of course they're going to stare."

"Not like this…" Elsa muttered, her heart beginning to beat faster.

"Don't let it get to you," Anna responded. "They're probably just staring because of how beautiful you look in that dress. Just tell yourself that and you'll be fine."

"Thanks…" muttered Elsa, not feeling any better. The walk across the bridge felt like an eternity, but eventually the two reached the open gates, and were greeted by a roaring crowd and thunderous applause. The city sounded like they were rejoicing, which seemed like a stark contrast from what Elsa had seen from her window. The people, who had earlier looked like they would've rather been anywhere else, suddenly looked like they were the happiest people alive.

"See? No one's afraid of you." Anna spoke softly. "In fact, I daresay you're downright beloved."

Even though Elsa hardly believed that, she had to stifle a chuckle when she heard that. After everything that had happened, everythingshe caused, "beloved" was hardly how she imagined people thought of her. Even so, the very idea of it made her feel a bit more at ease; at the very least her hands had stopped shaking.

"_Maybe this won't be as bad as I thought…"_ Elsa said to herself, trying to focus of the applauding crowd around her. As she and Anna arrived in the city itself, they walked near to the docks. Anna saw that the Northern Isle ship was still in port and smiled to herself, hoping she would run into Sigrid again, if for no other reason than to have someone else to talk to.

Just then a man in a simple wool coat and hat came running up to Anna and Elsa from the direction of the harbor.

"Your Majesty!" the man called out as he came jogging up to the two of them. "I was just on my way to speak to you. We may have a situation."

"Um…I'm right here too, you know," muttered Anna, but Elsa put her hand up to silence her.

"What's the problem?"

"We've had two unscheduled dockings within the past twenty minutes," stated the dock master. "Well to be fair we've had _one_ docking and another ship coming into port. Neither of them are on the schedule for today."

Elsa looked over at the ship that was already docked. It was a somewhat different design than the ships that usually visited Arendelle, but it didn't seem to have any flags or other indicative markings on it. The people who were still exiting the ship looked enough like simple travelers, though some of them carried strange looking staves with them, but other than that, there didn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary.

"Oh wait! You mean _that _ship?" Anna pointed out. "It's okay. I've talked to them earlier. They seemed nice enough."

"You talked to them?" asked Elsa, raising an eyebrow. "When did that happen?"

"Oh, right after the, pig, pie, and ocean thing." Replied Anna sheepishly. "They helped me out during the ocean part."

"I see…" Elsa responded, still feeling unsure. "Still, if they helped you, I suppose they can't be too much trouble."

"Well there was this one guy who was kind of a jerk," Anna continued. "But there was also a girl on the ship who was nice. I invited her to come back later to see the festival."

"You did?" Elsa asked, feeling annoyed with her sister's rash behavior at first, but also seeing an opportunity. "Well, that's good actually, then I might get a chance to talk to her."

Elsa's tone made Anna nervous and she spoke up again. "You're…not going to interrogate her or something are you?"

"Of course not," Elsa answered. "I just want to get some answers as to why the ship is docked here. She will be treated with respect like everyone else." Elsa then returned her attention to the dock master. "What about the other ship?"

"As I said your Majesty, it is also unscheduled," answered the harbormaster. "However, I remember the ship's flag and markings from a few months ago. It's…from the Southern Isles."

Anna and Elsa had looked of shock on their faces, but then Anna narrowed her eyes at the harbormaster. "Tell them to go home…"

"Hang on a minute Anna," Elsa began, but Anna cut her off, looking fiercer than Elsa had seen her in a long time.

"If that ship has Hans on it, I'm not letting him set one foot on the dock before I sock him again…" Anna seethed.

"But that's just it Anna, we have no idea who's on it," reasoned Elsa.

"Who else could it be?" Anna argued.

"That's probably what we should find out, don't you think?" Elsa responded calmly, despite her sister's irritated grumbling, and then returned to the Harbormaster. "How long before they dock?"

"About five, maybe ten minutes, Your Majesty," he answered. "They're still in the harbor at the moment, but they should be here soon."

"Well, we can't turn them away now," said Elsa. "Not when they're so close to docking."

"We could always use the cannons…" muttered Anna.

"Anna!"

"I'm kidding!" replied Anna holding up her hands in front of her. "Mostly…"

Elsa let out an annoyed sigh before speaking again. "Maybe I should be the one to talk to whoever is on the ship…"

"Ugh, I'll be nice I promise!" Anna said simply, looking away angrily. As she did, she saw a recently familiar face walking up to them. Anna's mood changed instantly.

"Sigrid! Over here!" Anna called over, waving elatedly.

"Hey there!" Sigrid waved back before running up to Anna. "You look really pretty! No blueberry stains or anything!"

"Thanks." Anna said with a laugh. "It's good that you could make it." Anna was distracted by the moment, then suddenly remembered that she wanted to introduce Sigrid to her sister, who was herself watching the scene unfold as Anna was talking to a stranger she hadn't seen before.

"Oh! I wanted to introduce you to my sister, the Queen right?" Anna began. "Well, here she is!"

Elsa walked toward the girl, trying to be as polite and regal as she could so as not to make a bad impression, even if it means she looked a bit stiff as she walked.

"A pleasure to meet you," She said courteously.

All of a sudden, Sigrid's expression changed, she went from appearing happy and social, to suddenly turning quiet and reclusive. Sigrid took one look at Elsa and instantly turned her head to the side and looked at the ground, clearing her throat as she did so. At first, Elsa thought she was being snubbed, but it didn't take her long to recognize the movement as being so quick and erratic it was like a knee-jerk reaction, like for some reason this girl was scared.

"Um…" Sigrid managed to say, still looking at the ground eventually turning her head to give Elsa a side glance while rubbing the back of her head at the same time. "I—it's nice to meet you too…Your..um, Majesty…"

Elsa wasn't sure what to make of the situation now. A girl she had never met nor seen in Arendelle before even seemed to be intimidated by her. Elsa started looking away as well, but more in shame. Anna looked at the both of them for a moment, and then cocked her head toward Sigrid, trying to get a better view of her face.

"Are…are you blushing?" she asked Sigrid, confused.

"…Sorry," Sigrid muttered,. "It's just…I've never really met someone so…" her words trailed off for a moment, leaving Elsa and Anna waiting on her to finish.

"Er…what I mean is, I've never had a chance to meet a queen before…" Sigrid finally stammered out. "So it's kind of a new experience for me. I'm not really sure what to do…" Sigrid let out a few nervous laughs while she spoke. Anna was surprised to see someone who looked so confident earlier suddenly seem so shy. Elsa seemed somewhat relieved though, as her warm smile returned.

"It's alright," she responded. "I thought I had frightened you for a moment."

"Oh no, I don't think you're scary at all." Sigrid assured her, and then looked away again. "Not at all…"

"Well that's…good," responded Elsa, now herself feeling awkward, as well as a combination of uncomfortable and even somewhat flattered, maybe because it was the first time someone looked in awe of her rather than with apprehension..

Er…anyway," said Sigrid, trying to change the subject. "So, what's going on with the festival? Has it started yet?"

"Not yet," Anna replied. "Technically everything's set up and ready, but Elsa has to begin the proceedings. She's even going to do a special "event" for everyone to kick off the festivities."

Elsa's gaze turned to her sister and she raised a worried eyebrow. "I am?"

"Oh… did I forget to tell you about that?" responded Anna, chuckling sheepishly. "Well, I'm sure it'll be okay."

"When exactly were you planning on telling me you were expecting me to perform in front of the entire city?" asked Elsa, annoyed.

"Oh it's not a 'performance' exactly, it's just…" Anna began to explain, then looked at Sigrid, who simply looked puzzled, then looked back to Elsa, who was waiting to hear Anna's explanation. She then whispered something into Elsa's ear, her eyes occasionally darting back toward Sigrid, who continued to look perplexed. As Anna was whispering, Elsa's reaction changed to shock.

"You want me do _what_?"

"Look, it's gonna be okay!" Anna responded. "It's all taken care of, and people won't be scared of you anymore if you do it."

Elsa suddenly cleared her throat loudly at her sister and then nudged her head in the direction of Sigrid. Anna did a double take and realized that she had said too much.

"Oops…"

"So wait…" said Sigrid, looking more bemused than ever. "People actually _are_ scared of you? Why?"

It was now Anna's turn to look uncomfortable, though Elsa mainly just glared at Anna for nearly letting slip about her secret to a stranger.

"Well, this is awkward…" Anna laughed nervously, and then turned to Elsa "Do you think we should tell her?"

"I'd rather not…" mumbled Elsa

"Why not?" questioned Anna. "She's going to see anyway isn't she?"

"Why are you suddenly under the impression that I'm actually going to be doing this?" Elsa had a stern look on her face as she argued with her sister, who was starting to look just as stern. "Especially in front of the entire city?"

"It's not like they don't already know…"

"That doesn't mean I want to show off in front of all of Arendelle!" Said Elsa, annoyed.

"You didn't have any problems 'showing off' six months ago!" said Anna, raising her own voice now. She sounded like she was almost getting as angry as Elsa was.

"This isn't even remotely the same, Anna!" Elsa shouted. Both sisters were staring angrily at each other, neither of them seemingly able to grasp why the other felt as she did. They looked at each other, both having vented their frustrations, when they noticed Sigrid, still standing there, looking rather awkwardly at the two.

"Er…maybe I should go…" Sigrid finally spoke up.

"No-No!" said Anna. "I'm sorry about this. This probably isn't the best thing to talk about here. I'm just feeling extra anxious right now thanks too…recent events. But we-"

"Let's just say, we have our secrets," interrupted Elsa. "Though it isn't so much a secret now, I still think we should be more careful about people knowing about it or not."

No, its okay, I get it," said Sigrid. "We have our secrets too. It's mainly why we're staying outside of the city."

"Wait a moment," said Elsa eyeing Sigrid quizzically. "That staff on your back…"

"Oh this?" said Sigrid, looking back at the item on her back. "It's not so much a staff as it is a…wand, I guess is the closest word. It's nothing special. Just…a tool my people use, for… ceremonies and things like that."

Elsa noticed Sigrid's erratic tone and movements after she mentioned the staff, indicating that the girl had something to hide. Still, she didn't want to press on that feeling, knowing full well she was hiding something herself. Instead, she decided to speak more casually

"I noticed some of the runes carved into it," she said. "I remember reading about them before, though it was mostly in passing so I can't quite remember what they mean."

Though Elsa was telling the truth, she did remember there was something oddly specific about them. Runes like these were commonplace in this land, as well as many others many centuries ago. But now they were rarely, if ever, seen outside of old ruins or history books.

"Did you make them yourself?" Elsa asked

"I did, though my grandmother helped me with them." Sigrid replied, looking a bit more anxious. "Like I said, it's a pretty important ceremonial tool. I can't really talk about it much."

"Then I won't pry any further," Said Elsa politely, despite still being curious.

"Pardon me for interrupting, Your Majesty," called the familiar voice of the Harbormaster, Elsa saw the man come walking over, looking somewhat nervous. "But the ship from the Southern Isles has docked."

"Already?" Asked Elsa. "I thought we'd have more time."

"It's been about five minutes, Your Majesty," replied the Harbormaster. "They've pulled up close to the docking office, offloading personnel as we speak."

"Wonderful." Elsa said with a sigh. "I suppose we should meet them then?"

"I'm definitely coming too!" exclaimed Anna. "If it is Hans on that ship, he'll wish he hadn't come back…"

"Just don't do anything hasty Anna," said Elsa. "we still don't know for sure-"

"Yeah I get it," interrupted Anna, picking up her pace to catch up with her sister as she walked back toward the docks, then turned back to Sigrid.

"You coming?" she asked.

"Who, me?" responded Sigrid, still looking nervous. "That…might not be such a good idea."

"It'll be fine, trust me!" said Anna. "Besides, I might need someone to hold me back in case it is Hans on that ship."

Sigrid, just sighed. "If you say so…" she said half heartedly, and jogged a bit to catch up with Anna and Elsa, hoping that things didn't turn ugly.

And there was more than one way that could happen.


End file.
